Push For Green Springs County Park Gains Ground

The State Has Awarded The County A $284,925 Grant To Help It Acquire The Archaeological Site.

December 6, 1996|By Ludmilla Lelis of The Sentinel Staff

Volusia County may soon be able to buy land for a park on the northern shore of Lake Monroe thanks to a $284,925 state grant.

The Florida Communities Trust, within the state Department of Community Affairs, announced Wednesday that Green Springs, 36 acres near the Deltona Community Center, ranks fifth among the 36 land conservation and recreation projects being funded next year.

With its picturesque freshwater spring and forests and its archaeological findings, Green Springs has long been eyed by Volusia County conservationists. Developers have wanted the site for a condominium complex. Plans by county officials to purchase the land in 1986 fell through.

In the drought years of the late 1980s and early 1990s, the spring, which flows into Lake Monroe, dried up because of the low water table. Today, the spring flows again because of more normal rainfall.

''I think it's an important site because it has a unique geological feature that should be protected as a natural resource and for the public's enjoyment,'' said Ron Paradise, natural resource planner for the County Growth Management department.

County officials hope to connect the site with other open spaces for a proposed local ''greenway'' in Enterprise. The new park would have a nature trail, a fishing pier, a picnicking area and camping, said trust executive director Anne Peery.

Green Springs is also an important archaeological site, with its Indian shell mound and burial ground, Paradise said. Some historians have said it also might be the site of Fort Kingsbury, a camp of palmetto huts built during Indian wars in the early to mid-1800s.

The total cost of the purchase is estimated at $569,850 - about half of which would be paid by the county. Paradise said county officials haven't allocated money for the park. The acquisition probably would take at least a year to complete.

Peery said the projects approved for funding are parcels that are important to local governments for their comprehensive plans. The trust, which receives about 10 percent of Preservation 2000 funds, is giving more than $44 million in grants in the coming year. This is the fifth grant Volusia County has received from the trust, which gave $2.2 million toward the purchase of Gemini Springs.